Written Answers

Friday 29 September 2000

Scottish Executive

Air Services

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote Wick Airport.

Sarah Boyack: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9633 on 19 September 2000.

Benefits

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will encourage and support local authorities to develop services which help elderly, disabled or unemployed people to apply for the full benefits to which they are entitled.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The payment of benefits is a matter reserved to the UK Government and it is for DSS to decide how to pursue the maximisation of benefit uptake. The Scottish Executive will continue its regular dialogue with UK Ministers on how the Scottish Executive and the UK Government can best work together to tackle such issues.

Cancer

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been any increase in the number of static or mobile units serving the Scottish Breast Screening Programme since its inception in 1988.

Susan Deacon: When the breast screening programme was introduced in 1988 there were seven static screening assessment centres and nine mobile units. A further three mobile units were commissioned in 1998. A rolling mobile unit refurbishment/replacement programme is in place.

Cancer

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many breast screening units (mobile and static) serve the West of Scotland Breast Screening Service.

Susan Deacon: The West of Scotland Breast Screening Service is currently served by two static units and four/five mobile units.

Cancer

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many breast reconstruction surgeons serve each health board.

Susan Deacon: Information collected by the NHS in Scotland does not provide figures for breast reconstruction surgeons, as such surgeons will be recorded under the specialties of general surgery or plastic surgery. The majority of breast reconstruction operations are carried out in plastic surgery departments.

Charity Shops

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the criteria are for allowing business rate rebates for charity shops.

Mr Jack McConnell: Rate relief for organisations established for charitable purposes is governed in Scotland by the Local Government (Financial Provisions Etc) (Scotland) Act 1962, as amended. The relief has two elements; charity shops "wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes" receive 80% mandatory relief from rates. The local authority may at their discretion top this relief up to 100%. It is for the local authority to determine whether a shop is "wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes".

Charity Shops

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time equivalent jobs are occupied by volunteer staff in charity shops.

Jackie Baillie: This information is not held centrally.

Charity Shops

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered charity shops there are currently in Scotland.

Jackie Baillie: There is no register of charity shops in Scotland.

Children

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children (a) were involved in and (b) died in accidents in rivers, the sea and other waterways in (i) 1995-96, (ii) 1996-97, (iii) 1997-98, (iv) 1998-99, (v) 1999-2000 and (vi) 2000 to date.

Mr Jim Wallace: No information is collected centrally on non-fatal or fatal accidents specifically associated with rivers, the sea or other waterways. The following table presents available information covering all deaths from drowning or submersion, and from water transport accidents, regardless of location.

  Deaths aged under 16 years of age, Scotland

  


Cause of death 


ICD9 code1


1995 


1996 


1997 


1998 


1999 




Accidental drowning or submersion 


E910 


4 


2 


8 


3 


3 




Submersion (drowning) undetermined whether accidentally or purposely 
inflicted 


E984 


- 


2 


- 


1 


2 




Water transport accidents 


E830-E838 


1 


- 


- 


- 


1 




  Notes:

  1. International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision.

Criminal Records

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the total cost of the proposed Scottish Criminal Records Office police checks on paid and voluntary youth workers in the first year of operation and the subsequent two years.

Mr Jim Wallace: Part V of the Police Act 1997 provides for extended access to criminal record checks. Different levels of checks will be available with more detailed checks being provided for positions which involve regularly caring for, training, supervising or being in sole charge of persons aged under 18. There will be a range of positions to which this definition may apply including certain youth workers. It is not possible at this stage to identify what the cost of checks for youth workers will be but the average cost of checks is currently estimated to be within the range of £10-15.

Digital Technology

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, further to its publication The Way Forward: Framework for Economic Development in Scotland , it will develop a structured plan for national partners on communications infrastructure to ensure that investments in the public and private sectors are complementary.

Henry McLeish: I refer Mr Ewing to the answer I gave in response to oral question S1O-2316 on 28 September.

Drug Misuse

Ms Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources for tackling drug misuse in Scotland will be available as a result of the recent spending review.

Angus MacKay: In the Spending Review, the Executive has agreed a new £100 million package of drugs expenditure for the three years from 2001-02. This will fund the Drugs Action Plan we published in May, which sets out our plans in support of the field across the four pillars of the drugs strategy: young people, communities, treatment and availability.

  Taken together these measures will build into a series of interlinked activities across the key areas, representing the biggest programme of anti-drugs initiatives ever seen in Scotland.

  In the course of the review we have been taking steps to ensure that we are making the best use of the resources currently devoted to tackling drug misuse, but also identifying the scope for new initiatives on drugs. That work has involved every Cabinet member and Departments across the Executive. We have also taken account of the views of the Drug Action Teams (DATs) throughout Scotland and their constituent agencies.

  Scotland’s first three-year budget for drugs will provide a framework in which the DATs and the agencies can plan well ahead. It will remove uncertainties over funding which, in some cases, led to short-term measures, and prevented an effective and sustained response.

  As part of the planning for the review we commissioned the first ever comprehensive study of drugs spending by government in Scotland. The results from this have informed the review. The study concluded that we spend around £145 million tackling the problem, and there are significant additional costs in dealing with the consequences of it. The study will be published soon.

  We want to see a balanced strategy which recognises the importance for communities of tackling the drug dealers, but which also reflects the need to treat and rehabilitate misusers and steer young people away from drug misuse with prevention and education measures. That task requires the right mix of adequate resources, properly targeted.

  The Executive’s key aim for young people is to help them resist drug misuse in order to reach their full potential in society. There is clear evidence that later life drug misuse can be tracked back to pre-teens and childhood problems. The new resources will therefore include:

  £21 million to provide support for the care of vulnerable young people and families where there are drug misusing parents, increase youth and community work on education and prevention, and build on existing work to ensure that every school pupil in Scotland receives drug education in line with national advice;

  £6.3 million for public awareness initiatives at both a local and national level.

  The Executive’s key aim for communities is to protect communities from drug-related anti-social and criminal behaviour. We know how the cycle of drug related crime in hard-pressed communities can threaten community life and trap misusers. The new resources will therefore include:

  £5 million extra for Social Inclusion Partnerships to put more resources into supporting community based initiatives to address drug misuse issues, in collaboration with Drug Action Teams.

  £9.5 million for community disposals for an additional 2,500-3,000 drug related offenders.

  The Executive’s key aim for treatment of drug misusers is to enable people to receive treatment for drugs problems and live healthy and crime free lives. There is strong evidence of the effectiveness of treatment and rehabilitation in cutting drug related crime; reducing drug related deaths, overdoses and drug related harm, and improving the health of misusers. We want people who have misused drugs in the past to be able to access new opportunities for training, employment and education. The new resources will therefore include:

  £10 million to provide treatment services in the community for more drug misusers. Our aim is to increase those in contact with services for the first time from 11,000 to 16,500 by 2004;

  £21 million for rehabilitation services to equip former drug misusers for opportunities such as training, employment, education and accommodation;

  £8 million to provide 120 new drugs treatment and throughcare workers to deliver comprehensive treatment packages from entry to release and beyond and throughcare support for up to 9,000 people leaving prisons every year;

  £6.5 million to assist 1,000 reforming drug misusers a year to prepare for training and employment.

  The Executive’s key aim for drug availability is to stifle the availability of illegal drugs on the streets. We know the importance communities attach to cracking down on drug dealers and organised crime. That is why we have already provided £10 million to establish the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.

  A key component in the drugs strategy is to base policies and approaches on timely and good quality research, information and intelligence and to ensure that the local delivery mechanisms are strong. The new resources will therefore include:

  £2 million for a new national research programme focused on identifying what interventions are effective;

  £3.3 million for enhanced information and support for DATs which deliver the drugs strategy on the ground.

  We are currently considering in detail how the additional resources will be distributed. The arrangements will require the DATs to be involved in planning the use of the new resources. DATs will also be required to agree outcomes and outputs with the spending authority and jointly monitor achievement.

  Scotland’s drugs strategy is about being clear on what we want to achieve; providing the structures, support and resources for implementation, and working closely with the DATs in delivering the necessary outcomes. We believe that we have done this with a series of measures since coming into office. With this announcement we are sending out a message to the Drug Action Teams, the agencies and our communities that the Executive is backing them with the resources they need, and challenging them to deliver local solutions to the problems caused by drug misuse.

Enterprise

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns about the security of employment of the 1,000 United Biscuits employees in Scotland in the event that United Biscuits is taken over by Nabisco, given that Nabisco is backed by Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst, the same investment firm as Viasystems.

Henry McLeish: The Scottish Executive always takes an interest in any proposed take-over which may have employment consequences in Scotland, and would make representations as and when necessary.

Environment

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any current targets or future targets planned in respect of (a) minimising packaging, (b) avoiding the use of hazardous substances and (c) the need for packaging to be reusable or recoverable; who set or will set these targets, and whether they are or will be UK-wide or Scottish.

Sarah Boyack: The EC Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC) requires all packaging to be minimised, the use of certain hazardous substances in packaging to be minimised and the design to be such as to permit its reuse or recovery. These elements of the Directive were transposed into UK law by The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 1998. These matters are reserved as they relate to product standards.

Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total Scottish budget was in each year since 1979; what percentage of the overall UK budget this represented in each year and what changes took place in the areas of expenditure to be met from the Scottish budget during this time.

Mr Jack McConnell: The table below sets out the total Scottish budget since 1993-94 and the percentage this represents of the total UK budget. The introduction of Resource Accounting and Budgeting makes strict comparison with years before 1999-2000 difficult. Figures are shown, however, since 1993-94 which provides a consistent series with the previous control total definitions.

  





1993-94 


1994-95 


1995-96 


1996-97 


1997-98 


1998-99 


1999-2000 


2000-01 




Scotland’s total budget (£ million) 


13,712 


14,229 


14,554 


14,831 


14,774 


15,383 


15,108 


18,453 




Scotland as a % of UK budget 


4.8 


4.8 


4.7 


4.7 


4.6 


4.6 


4.9 


5.0 




  Note: The figures for 1993-94 to 1998-99 are in cash terms, and the figures for 1999-2000 and 2000-01 are expressed in resource terms.

  The following principle changes in responsibility for public expenditure affect overall comparisons of the figures:

  


Date 


From 


Function 


Amount of Transfers in 1st year 



 
 
 

£ million 




1 April 1994 


DNH 


Scottish Arts Council 


24 




1 April 1994 


Dem 


European Social Fund expenditure under objectives 1, 2 and 5b 
of the Structural Fund regulations 


22 




1 April 1994 


DOT 


Support for Strathclyde PTE on accounts of changes in the structure 
of the railway industry 


70 




1 April 1994 


DTI 


Schemes for encouraging innovation, support and transfer of technology 


3 




1 April 1996 


DOH 


Costs for changing capital disregard limits for people in residential 
accommodation 


7 




1 April 1999 


Forestry Commission 


Funding of Forestry Commission in Scotland after devolution 


14 




1 April 1999 


DfEE 


Changes in fee levels for students resident in England attending 
Scottish Higher Education Institutions 


5

Finance

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the new money it will receive as a result of the decision by Her Majesty’s Treasury regarding the status of London Transport will be spent.

Mr Jack McConnell: This new money will contribute to the record level of spending in Scotland in 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 and will support a range of new initiatives in transport and other areas.

NHS Staff

David McLetchie (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what senior vacancies there are in the NHS Management Executive, when any such vacancies arose and how they arose.

Mr Jack McConnell: I refer to the press announcement made by the Scottish Executive on Monday 10 July regarding the outcome of the recent review of the Scottish Executive Health Department (SE 1989/2000, 10 July) which is available on the Scottish Executive website.

NHS Staff

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in how many senior Health Department appointments Thomson Partners Limited, Glasgow has had responsibility for recruitment services.

Mr Jack McConnell: Thomson Partners Limited, Glasgow have worked with the Scottish Executive on three senior Health Department appointments, following a competitive tender in 1995.

NHS Staff

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Thomson Partners Limited, Glasgow will be involved in the recruitment process for the post of Head of the Health Department and Chief Executive of the NHSiS.

Mr Jack McConnell: Yes, as part of their contract with the Scottish Executive.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the written parliamentary questions lodged prior to 1 October 1999 which had not received a substantive reply by 15 December 1999, including the date of their submission, the author of each question, their party affiliation where applicable, the Ministers responsible for responding, why no reply has yet been given and when members can expect a reply in each instance.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Chamber Office has prepared the information requested and indicated that it would be happy to make this available to Mr Gibson.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many parliamentary questions were answered by each Minister up to and including 15 December 1999 and what the average time taken by each Minister to give a substantive answer to written questions was.

Mr Tom McCabe: I refer you to the audit of written parliamentary questions lodged in SPICe in response to question S1W-3227.

Planning

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review its role in the planning system in the light of any recent challenges under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Sarah Boyack: We have lodged an appeal against a recent judgment by Lord Macfadyen. We do not consider it appropriate to comment further.

Planning

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning applications have been called in by the Secretary of State and the Scottish Executive in each year since unitary authorities were established and what percentage of these were refused planning consent.

Sarah Boyack: The information is as follows:

  


Year 


Number called in 


% eventually refused 




1996-97 


30 


63 




1997-98 


34 


53 




1998-99 


30 


30 




1999-2000 


35 


26 




  Notes:

  1. The figures relate to (a) planning applications notified to the Secretary of State/Scottish Ministers where, for example, a council proposes to grant planning permission for a proposal which is a significant departure from a Structure Plan, and (b) Notices of Intention to Develop for certain proposed local authority developments which have attracted objections.

  2. The data relates to fiscal years.

  3. A number of applications have still to be determined. For 1997-98, the number is two, for 1998-99 and 1999-2000, the figures are two and 11 respectively.

Police

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the actual or estimated annual cost is of police officers providing court services in sheriff courts in Grampian and Tayside for each court.

Mr Jim Wallace: This information is not held centrally. The provision of police services in sheriff courts is an operational matter for chief constables.

Police

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many man-hours and what cost to general police budgets will "the meeting of prisoners’ rights" clause of the European Convention on Human Rights Bill require of each police force and whether it will reimburse forces fully any such additional costs.

Mr Jim Wallace: It is for chief constables to allocate resources according to priorities and demands in their force area. Funding is allocated to forces in total and is not earmarked for specific purposes.

Police

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to reduce the number of man-hours spent by police officers ferrying prisoners between prisons, remand units and courts by transferring such duties to the prison authorities or private security companies.

Mr Jim Wallace: The provision of police officers for specific duties within the force area, such as escorting prisoners between prisons, remand units and courts, is an operational matter for chief constables. However, police authorities have the power under the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 to enter into agreements with other parties for services provided by the police and to set the terms.

Police

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make additional funds available to Central Scotland Police to cover the extra costs incurred by them in setting up and running a centralised prisoner unit in Falkirk to meet the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr Jim Wallace: Central Scotland Police are currently preparing detailed plans for the replacement of Falkirk Police Station. The new station will have a modern custody suite with facilities which will allow improved prisoner care which will comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. Sufficient capital consent under the terms of section 94 of the Local Authority Government (Scotland) Act 1974 has been given to Central Scotland Joint Police Board to allow the project to go ahead.

Police

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of any additional burdens in both manpower and costs which compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights will impose on police forces in relation to the handling of prisoners.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish police service has taken considerable care to assess the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights and identify how current and future procedures can best be adapted to comply with the legislation.

Prison Service

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of prisoners left prison in each of the last three years having gained educational or employment qualifications in prison, broken down by prison.

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of prisoners are registered alcoholics.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  This information is not available.

Prison Service

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of prisoners failed mandatory drug tests in each of the last three years.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The number and percentage of prisoners providing positive drug tests under all parts of the mandatory drug testing programme (which does not include clinical and programme tests, which are not collected centrally) for the last three years are as follows. An additional column is included which shows the results of the random element of the drug testing programme, providing a more accurate reflection of in-prison drug misuse patterns.

  


Year 


Number of Positive Test Results 


% of Samples Taken 


In-prison Random Tests - % Positive 




1999-2000 


3,717 


25 


15 




1998-99 


4,012 


28 


18 




1997-98 


4,191 


31 


23

Prison Service

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of prison inmates received drug counselling and rehabilitation in each of the last three years and how many are currently.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The number of prison inmates receiving drug treatment interventions for the given years are as follows, with the percentage of prison inmates:

  


Year 


Number of Interventions1


% of Average Population2




2000-01 (as of August 2000) 


2,300 


40 




1999-2000 


5,300 


89 




1998-99 


2,800 


46 




1997-98 


1,660 


27 




  Notes:

  1. A more robust monitoring mechanism has been introduced in from April of this year as part of the SPS revised drug strategy.

  2. Average populations for 1997 to 2000 are taken from the SPS Annual Report and Accounts. The 2000-01 figure is from the current daily population.

Public Appointments

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the outcome of its consultation exercise on the reform of the public appointments system.

Mr Jack McConnell: I intend to publish it in November and will make a statement later in the autumn.

Roads

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a viable route has now been identified for the proposed Selkirk bypass which will take into account current road design standards.

Sarah Boyack: The A6091/A7 Route Action Plan study has considered several alignments for a Selkirk bypass. However, the preliminary assessment of a Selkirk bypass option indicated that any benefits accrued are outweighed by the high construction costs.

Smoking

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what developments there have been in relation to smoking cessation since the launch of Smoking Kills , A White Paper on Tobacco in (a) Scotland and (b) Glasgow.

Susan Deacon: Following the launch of Smoking Kills in December 1998, an £8 million drive to stub out smoking was announced for Scotland. £5 million was allocated over three years, commencing 1999-2000, for health education activity focussing on young people. £3 million was allocated over three years to health boards for smoking cessation services and Nicotine Replacement Therapy to be targeted at areas of social deprivation.

  Smoking cessation has also been identified as a priority for investment from the £26 million health promotion fund. Health boards will be able to provide more practical support through the NHS for those people who want to quit smoking.

  A Smoking Cessation Service for Glasgow was launched on 8 March 2000 to provide a comprehensive network of smoking cessation services. The disadvantaged will be a priority group. The service is co-ordinated from the Eastbank Health Promotion Centre, Shettleston and offers easily accessible advice and support to smokers who want to quit.

Telecommunications

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what long-term legal and financial responsibilities and costs to the public purse are involved when public sector services, such as joint police boards, fire boards, education authorities and local authorities, are given ownership of private sector telecommunication masts.

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what legal, financial, health and safety, planning and demolition liabilities do local authorities and public utilities have when they use telecommunication masts formerly used by commercial telecommunication companies.

Sarah Boyack: These are questions for the local authorities and public utilities concerned to address.

Young People

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Transport and the Environment or her officials last met directly with representatives of Youthlink Scotland and when such a meeting was last requested.

Sarah Boyack: Neither I nor my officials have met representatives of Youthlink Scotland, and no request for a meeting has been received.